A Warm Welcome...

OK, so maybe a HOT & SWEATY welcome....to MONTH 9!

Hello, MONTH 9/WEEK 37. My, how you've crept up on us! I think the countdown is 28 days or something (but who's keeping track?!)

To welcome this last month of preggo bliss, let me share with you a few of my "favorite" things about pregnancy. Here it goes, in random order...

1) Being sick! Not just nauseous, but sick. Any time, all the time, day or night. Whoever coined the term "morning sickness" should be shot. I swear I have been sick for 75% of my pregnancy. I'm pretty much a professional barfer by now. And I'm not shy about it.

2) Everything is bigger. EVERYTHING.

3) The heat factor. I'm sweating just thinking about it. Even over the winter I was warmer than usual, then once it hit about 50 degrees I was sporting tanks & flip flops. Now, you're lucky if I have pants on in this crazy heat & humidity (and yes, we have central A/C). Usually I LOVE this weather. Not this summer - I'm always HOT and always SWEATING. Don't come by Strazz-Land unannounced - you never know what you might find. I think I've scarred my husband for life.

4) Cravings. If I want something I will go out of my way to take down anyone in my path to get it. Not so bad lately, but my first two trimesters - WATCH OUT. More on this in a later post...stay tuned.

5) Baby brain! Yes, people, it's a very real phenomenon. Sometime soon I will also share with you my top "baby brain" moments of the last 8+ months...if I don't forget.

6) Emotional meltdowns. I'm just nuts at this point. Enough said.

7) Movement of any kind, especially bending. It's gotten progressively worse as the belly grows. Last week it was a struggle to reach the lever on the floor of my car in order to pop the gas cap. Oh, and as the belly gets bigger, it becomes harder to move from a sitting or especially lying down position - I'm like a turtle that gets stuck on its back.

8) Sleepless nights! Although they CAN be productive, they are very annoying for a sleep-aholic. I LOVE my sleep. Just call me sleeping beauty (minus the beauty lately). I NEED at least 8 hours to even function. BUT I have had some productive nights painting furniture, framing pictures for the gallery wall, and catching up on my DVR (Real Housewives?!!).

9) Swelling. My feet are swollen, my fingers are swollen, and it feels like my knee joints are going to explode. Maybe I should just carry around an oil can like the Tin Man. (Ohhh, maybe I could take advantage of the Scarecrow's brain, too - I don't think he even had one to start but that would be one-up on this baby brain situation right now...).

10) I'll include a bunch of random things here...excruciatingly painful Charlie Horses/cramping in my calves, peeing every 10 minutes (and then you get poked in the bladder again...), the MOST IDIOTIC & GROSS things people say to pregnant ladies, and in public people stare at you like a freak of nature. And no, those random people are not more helpful or attentive to the big waddling pregnant lady. They'll just drop the door in your face rather than hold it for you. And finally, I've observed that if you were to draw a line around my belly from where my belly button is (OK, from where it WAS since there isn't much left of it), it would be like the equator. Yes, I am comparing my baby belly to a world globe. Below this equator of mine - I can't see or reach anything anymore. Priceless.

In closing, I'd like to say...MONTH 9, PLEASE BE GOOD TO ME!

~E